The present invention relates to a device for fastening a table top on a substructure, which comprises a fastening cross to be screwed to the underside of the table top or some other fastening means involving a fastening plate or the like, on which the table top rests, wherein this fastening cross has a defined hole pattern with several holes or mounts for respective fastening screws that are to be plugged through these holes and used to screw the fastening cross to the table top.
According to current prior art, manufacturers of table tops made out of HPL (high pressure laminate) materials deliver the latter to wholesalers or secondary operations, which make tables out of them by mounting the table tops onto substructures of varying shape and size per customer request. The problem here is that the available substructures vary greatly in terms of type, shape and size. As a rule, the underside of the table top is mounted on a fastening cross, for example which exhibits four or eight holes or mounts for screws at several locations for securing the table top. Since the fastening crosses for the substructures exhibit highly variable hole patterns, the supplier for each of these different substructures would have to deliver a table top with a correspondingly matching drilling pattern, so that the table top would fit onto the respective substructure. This results in a very expensive stock inventory at the wholesaler or secondary operation that assembles the tables.
As an alternative, it would also be possible for the assembling operation to procure table tops without drill holes and drill the necessary holes during assembly depending on the substructure onto which the respective table top is to be mounted. However, this is a relatively difficult process that requires high-end machinery with which the drill holes can be drilled into the table tops with sufficient precision, as well as correspondingly trained personnel. It must be considered that the HPL material that usually goes into making these table tops is a material with a comparatively large hardness, so that tools comprised of diamond or carbide are required for machining purposes. However, the assembling operations are set up more like commercial enterprises and have no industrial manufacturing of their own, so that they usually lack the machinery and trained personnel. Another potential alternative is an adhesive bond, but it would not yield a durable, reliable bond owing to the alternating heat and humidity ranges encountered during use indoors and outdoors.